Johnny Allan

 made films on my phone or borrowed cameras, made films with friends and just made films with whatever I could get hold of. Early on, I was lucky enough to win a couple of small festival awards for some low budget short films – that didn’t give me any big career breaks but did give me some confidence to continue. 

The more I shot, the more aware I became of how my films often weren’t living up to their potential. There was a clarity lacking in them. And I knew deep down the biggest reason that I wasn’t making better films, wasn’t my lack of budget but was because of my lack of skill. Initially, my biggest black hole of knowledge was around the camera. 

So I washed floors in hire houses and made coffee, so that they would let me play with kit after hours. I started getting to know how different lenses and different exposures and focal lengths effected the mood and emotion of what I wanted to shoot. I experimented trying to do my own cheap in camera Gondry style in camera FX. And I just kept trying to learn how to use the camera more accurately to help me tell better stories. Knowing where to put a camera and with what lens is such a simple and fundamental part of our job, but also a surprisingly complex one – and it took me some time to even learn the basics.  It’s something I’m still working on. But the more I understood about the geeky tech side of things, the better I felt I could express myself. 

I also did some short courses. I made some music videos. I even did chores and odd jobs for an old DoP in exchange for having him teach me more about camera craft. 

But by learning about camera, I began to notice how bad my blocking was and how imprecise I was at helping actors deliver performances. 

So I started getting actors round my flat to act out scenes and let me direct them in return for booze and food. We acted out anything, scenes I’d written, scenes from famous plays, and we tried doing them in all sorts of different styles. Sometimes I would even try acting myself. My own acting was truly awful. But by really concentrating on the actors, I slowly started getting better at reading what they needed, started giving less ridiculous notes (though this still happens), and started to direct them better.

I also would download scripts at night of films I hadn’t seen and Imagine how I’d shoot them. Then I’d watch the actual film. The difference between how I’d shoot the film in my head and what the real directors actually chose was really illuminating. This is still something I do now, as often as I can, to keep learning from other directors past and present. 

After all this, I finally felt like I was getting somewhere and wanted to take things up a level. I applied to the National Film and Television School and was lucky enough to be offered a place on their directing course. But I still didn’t know if I could go. 

Two years felt like a big commitment and also the amount of money I would have to pay for this experience was frankly terrifying. I didn’t know how I could pay the fees. I didn’t know how I was going to look after my family. And even if somehow I found a way past these hurdles I didn’t know how I would then manage to eat and pay rent while studying. 

But I was lucky and well looked after from the moment I was offered a place. I got a David Lean Scholarship for the fees, and I scrapped it out for everything else I needed. I borrowed what I could (which wasn’t a lot because my credit rating was already dire) I leant heavily on those I loved, and worked weekends and most nights after my studies. 

Juggling the course and survival felt difficult at the time, but looking back now, this was all useful preparation for my career to come. An ability to survive off just a few hours sleep a night for weeks on end, and the ability to ask for help when you need it, are two great directing skills to have in the bag early. 

I learnt a lot from some amazing tutors – particularly from Ian Sellar – and particularly improved how I used mis-en-scene for emotional resonance. 

I learnt a tonne from the other students too. Having a host of filmmakers around you from different disciplines, who can speak truth into your failures and successes, was one of the things that helped me develop most, and was also the start of some great friendships. 

I got to work with an amazingly talented team for my graduation film which was received well and led to me getting a fantastic agent – who I hope stays with me for life! I am also still working with the same writer and producer of my graduation film now, to try and develop a feature.